Assessment

The latest news and analysis on exams in the UK, including key dates, timetables, results and statistics for Sats, GCSEs and A levels

Thursday

22nd Jul 2021

Should Sats tests return - or be abandoned forever?
After Sats KS2 tests were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, four school leaders give their views on whether they should return

Wednesday

21st Jul 2021

Gibb: Pandemic used to ‘reheat’ agenda to abolish GCSEs
Scrapping GCSE exams would take education system back ‘decades’, schools minister warns
GCSE 2022: ‘The potential inequality is evident’
It’s unacceptable that geography GCSE students are being penalised for decisions their teachers took a year ago, says Steve Brace

Tuesday

20th Jul 2021

Scrap Sats to tackle learning gap, DfE told
Social Mobility Commission also calls for funding for mid-career teachers as incentive to work at disadvantaged schools

Monday

19th Jul 2021

GCSEs 2022 results to be used for school league tables
Heads condemn ‘nonsensical’ GCSE data decision – while primary performance tables will return a year later in 2022-23

Saturday

17th Jul 2021

GCSEs 2021: Teacher-assessed grades unfair, say parents
But two-thirds of parents think teachers should get a pay rise next year, a Mumsnet poll shows

Friday

16th Jul 2021

GCSEs 2021: Ofqual won’t say if algorithm being used
Call for the regulator to be ‘more transparent’ about how it will identify schools for ‘quality assurance’ over grades
Has Gavin just insulted teachers and students?
The education secretary attacks ‘second-rate qualifications’ but the replacement will most likely lead to levelling down, says Geoff Barton
GCSEs 2021: AQA 26% exam fee rebate ‘unacceptable’
Exam board reveals amount it will give back but heads say it doesn’t reflect how much work schools have done on grades

Thursday

15th Jul 2021

GCSEs 2022: Ofqual maths lost learning plan ‘flawed’
Formulae sheets in next year’s GCSE exams won’t make up for Covid disruption to learning, say maths teachers
SQA removes references to climate change ‘positives’
Climate change was deemed to have ‘positives’ in geography course notes for the National 5 qualification

Tuesday

13th Jul 2021

GCSEs 2022: Geography teachers ‘gutted’ at exam changes
Making GCSE topics optional halfway through course will disadvantage those who have already covered them, warn teachers